Hyderabad, Jan 11: A placid-looking movie on love compositions in
Carnatic music sparked a debate in the art circle after its screening as part
of the ongoing Krishnakriti Annual Festival of Art & Culture in this city.
America-born Bharatanatyam dancer Justin McCarthy’s documentary on
the ‘padams’ of 17th-century poet Kshetrayya won applause from a gathering here
on Saturday evening, but the 32-minute work also drew criticism from a couple
of cultural personalities.
Leading classical danseuse Ananda Shankar Jayant and
artist-designer Pratima Sagar noted that ‘Oh Friend, This Waiting’ was
Cauvery-centric when Kshetrayya’s birthplace is believed to be in Moova mandal
on the banks of the Krishna along what is now Andhra Pradesh.
To this, Delhi-based McCarthy who is also a Carnatic vocalist and
Western classical pianist, noted that Telugu — Kshetrayya’s mother tongue — was spoken in various parts
of peninsular India in later medieval era. “There was no Tamil Nadu or Andhra
Pradesh at that time,” he told the audience at Annapurna International School
of Film & Media.
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| Filmmakers Justin McCarthy and Neta Jain Duhaut at the screening of their documentary movies at Krishnakriti Annual Festival of Art & Culture at Hyderabad on Jan 10. |
At this, Ananda, who is an exponent of both Bharatanatyam and
Kuchipudi after having the two forms from Chennai’s famed Kalakshetra, said the
film could not place in context the concept of padams. “What has Kshetrayya to
do with Devadasis,” she asked about the film which sought to make an off-beat
exploration of the system that saw temple-serving girls of the Raj era
eventually fostering prostitution before it was outlawed across India in 1988.
The 57-year-old McCarthy, who teaches Bharatanatyam in Sriram
Bharatiya Kala Kendra in the national capital, said his 2012 film, co-directed
by Sandhya Kumar, only portrayed scenes from around Cauvery and never said
Kshetrayya was from that belt of today’s Tamil Nadu.
Responding to it, Pratima, who is also a critic and technologist,
suggested the film should have carried a disclaimer. McCarthy said this could
be considered, but pointed out that Kshetrayya also spent time in the courts of
Thanjavur and Madurai. To which, Pratima said: “But then most composers of that
time travelled to various places.” The film has its socio-geographic links
essayed in a “misleading” way, she added.
‘O Friend, This Waiting’ received the award for the Best
Arts/Cultural film at the 61st national film awards Film given away in May
2014. It
won special mention
at the Erasing Borders Festival of Classical Dance organised
in New York by the Indo-American Arts Council in 2013.
McCarthy’s film was followed by a documentary on the illustrious
Surabhi theatres of Hyderbad. The 52-minute ‘Surabhi’, directed by Delhi-based
Neeta Jain Duhaut, essayed the life of the present-day life of the family on
and off the stage, climaxing with their first-ever visit to a city outside the
country when they present a show in Paris.
Earlier in the day, the January 7-11 Krishnakriti festival
showcased a film on veteran landscape painter Paramjit Singh. The 70-minute
movie ‘The Seventh Walk’, directed by the young and experimental Amit Dutta,
essayed the Amritsar-born artist and his works known for their striking use of
light and colours in synthesis with his life in the scenic Kangra Valley of
Himachal Pradesh. Singh, 78, interacted with the audience.
It was followed by a retrospective talk by celebrated artist
Arpana Caur.
The
11th edition of the festival, conceived by Krishnakriti Foundation head Prshant
Lahoti, featured top-notch dance, music, cinema
and painting alongside talks, seminars and workshops.
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